There is no reason Pakistanis should not do as well in the current globalisation process as Indians, since they have the âsame DNA,â according to leading American journalist Thomas L Friedman.
| ... except for the turbans. They keep getting in the way... |
Friedman, who recently returned from India where he studied and wrote about Indiaâs outreach to the world in the globalisation race, said in an interview to âIndia Abroad,â this week, âI am a big believer that Pakistanis have the same DNA as Indians. There is absolutely no reason they couldnât be as brainy, or arenât as brainy, as anyone in Banglore. To me, it all about the system that you live in ... If Pakistan had the same system as India, I have absolutely no doubt Pakistan would be competing with India right now and it would have its own Infosys-es. But it doesnât have that system. Why it doesnât have that system is a long historical tale and Iâm not going to go into that because people know it better than I do.â
| Somehow, a madrassah education and infosys don't seem to go together. Burning off your excess population in jihad doesn't add to the GDP, either. |
He said, âIndia is developing call centres and Saudi Arabia is developing madrassas. One is calling the world in a perfect accent; the other is calling God, in only one language. I like the India model.â
| Don't say that too loud. Somebody will fatwah your ass... |
Mr Friedman of the New York Times, who is respected in the Middle East for his balanced analysis of the Palestinian question, warned against the excesses of private business by stressing that private enterprise and public space âhave got to mergeâ at some point because it is ânot socially sustainable that people live in golden enclaves while poverty of the most wretched kind exists right outside their door.â
| On the other hand, you can change the definition of "poverty," as we do in this country. Remember, Tom? The country you live in? Where the po' folks have cell phones and color teevees? Where obesity's a problem and malnutrition isn't? |
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